Ruled printing-form



A. G. STEVENSON.

RULED PRINTING FDRM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 6. 1918.

a 4 L W 1W6 5. 2 m M m j m u l m I e m M c, g a 1 v i. 1 L G :5 6 I I. 0 a i E 3 M M 0 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AHTON G. STEVENSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOB TO CHICAGO LINO-TABLER COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

RULED PRINTING-FORM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 10, 1920.

Application filed May 6, 1918. Serial No. 232,682.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ASHTON G. STEVEN- SON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State .of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in and for Ruled Rrinting-Forms, of which the following is a specification.

My invention refers to the production of tabular or rule-and-figure matter, and has special reference to improvements in socalled tabular systems whereby type forms made by linotype machines and the like are provided with vertical rules.

Such composition or type forms usually comprise a plurality of linotype slugs, or equivalent rows of monotype slugs, together bearing vertical columns of figures or letters and vertical rules which separate the columns. Vertical rules formed by means of mold matrices involve problems of alinement and i ontinuity thus far not solved in r the art 0 machine composition; and it is customar y to form the body of the matter by machinery and to then se arately apply the column lines or rules. T e difiiculty is to apply such separate rules quickly and with the degree of accuracy demanded by the printers art, and it is especially difficult to first make the type form in the manner required to receive the separate rules and to then accurately and securely fasten the rules thereto.

Three distinct systems have been employed for the purpose: By the first system the rule-receiving grooves are sawed in the type form; in the second, special type and groove forming matrices must be used when tabular matter is required; and in the third, other special matrices are required to make rule retaining projections upon the quad surface of the type form, or rule receiving openings having overhanging side walls. Aside from its expense, the sawing system is objected to because of the frequent mutilation of the type faces and because of the rough edges and metallic dust left by the saw. Under the second system, the formation of grooves or notches of sufficient depth to securely hold the rules can only be accomplished b us'in special fonts of matrices of greater epth t an usual and these are objected tobecause of their cost and for the reason.that tabular forms are frequently desired in type not readily obtamable in such special matrices. One ob ection to the bendable lugs of the third system mentioned, goes to the fragile character of the minute rule-holding proections on the type form and the separate operation which must be performed to bend or clench the rule holding projections after the rule is placed on the type form and the most serious objection to the third form involving the production of the rule .receiving openings having overhangin side walls goes to the complicated and ragfle matr ces necessary to produce such holes or openings.

The object of my invention is to provide means whereby linotype forms and even monoty 3e forms may be provided with column ru es.

Special objects ,of my invention are, to provide a tabular system which shall be free from the objectionable features of the present systems; which shall permit all the necessary preparatory work to be done with matrices of simple and usual form; which shall not require any working of the metal after the type form is completed by the linotyping or other machine; and'which shall provide and include extremely simple and inexpensive rules of a self-locking character, adapted to be pressed into position and which having been thus positionedshall firmly bind themselves into and on the form as Well as bind together the component slugs of the form.

The invention in which I attain these objects will be readily understood on reference to the drawings that form part ofthis specification, and in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a type form embod mg my invention;

ig. 2 is a vertical section of the first sluEg, or row of slugs, composing the form;

igs. 3, 4 and 5 are enlarge cross sections of several shapes of my novel rule;

Fig. 6 is a similar View showing the manner in which the fins of the rule are con verted into retaining barbs;

Fig. 7 is a side view of a pressure tool or planer that I prefer to use in placing the rules in the form;

Fig. 8 is an end View of the tool;

Fig. 9 is an enlarged view showing the operation of the tool; and

Figs. 10, 11 and 12 and 13 are partial side views of ordinary matrices, to which I shall refer.

In the drawings 1, 2, 3 and 4 represent four slugs belonging to a roup of linotype slugs making u a t pe orm of indefinite vertical length y novel self-fastening rules, a b, c, and d, are contained in grooves or notches, 6, provided therefor in the slugs. These rule-containing grooves are properly alined by the same methods employed in the alining of type, which methods are well understood by those skilled in the art.

The four slugs may also be taken as four equivalent rows of monotype slugs for my invention is admirably adapted to both linotig pe and monotype forms of composition.

at in working with monotype slu s, I find it best to completel form each ru e groove in a single slug. have not yet found it practicable to employ separate slu s to form any single rule groove or notch. ith this exception, the description herewith pertaining to linotype forms holds true as to monotype forms.

n Figs. 1 and 2, I have not adhered to an ordinary column formation of type upon the slugs, that being a matter generally understood. Instead, I have made the illustration as though four slugs had been assembled from different forms, m purpose being to depict the flexibility of t e system, 2'. 0., to show that my system is not limited to any particular spacing between the type and the rule-holding grooves or notches. ()hvirmsly, a rule groove cannot occupy the space of a type, but, except for this limita- Hun. the rule may be placed as near to or as remote from the type as may be desired.

My novel rules are wire-like in form and appeu l :mce. I prefer to make them of magnetumetal, steel or iron, but other metaf su h as brass, may be used. They are chiefly distinguished from others by their somewhat rectangular form, a rectangular form being departed from to the extent necessary to permit them to be drawn or rolled, and to provide printing edges of the several dewire-l forms. I prefer that in most cases the rules shall have substantially flat parallel sides. 5, to fit the sides of the rooves in the slugs; and I provide the si es of the rules with outstanding barb-formin fins, 6. The fins are very thin and sharp e ged and extend lon itudinally from end to end of the rule. he bottom corners, 7 of the rule are somewhat rounded to facilitate the drawing operation and the insertion of the rules in the grooves. The printing ed es may he of anv of the usual forms, such, or example. IS the hair-line edge, 8, the heavy line-edge 9. and the parallel-line edge, 10. 13v inverting the rule in the holding notches of the type form the bottom, 11. may also be used as a black-face line or rule, and for this purpose I prefer, as shown at 7', to taper the lower edges so that the bottom of the rule can best serve as a rule of maximum width. The ositions of the several rules and the inversion of one of them (rule b) clearly appear in Fig. 2.

The notches or grooves c, which contain the rules, are formed in the upper edges of the slugs that is the two sides e, and the bottom 0 each notch are in a solid piece of metal, 2'. e., the walls are rigid with each other and in this sense are unyielding. The depth of the notches is preferably determined by the usual or ordinary matrices used upon the standard linotype machine, but in any case the notches or rooves are of such depth that the edges of tie rules are presented in the impression surface of the form, 71. e., in the type face surface thereof, when the bottoms of the rules are seated upon the bottoms of the notches. In every case the sides 6' of the notchese, are of greater depth than the distance between the bottom edge of a rule and its fins 6.

The grooves are of less width than the overall width of the rules. When the slugs of the form have been assembled with the several rule grooves e, in alinement, the rules are pressed into the grooves; and thereby the fins 66 of each rule in the illustration of my invention shown in the drawings are bent upwardly, forming sharp barbs which slightly enter and strongly engage the sides e, of their grooves e. This action of the rule fins is clearly depicted in Figs. 6 and 9, and thus positioned the rule cannot easily be dislodged; and, obviously, serves to bind the several type slugs firmly together.

As efore stated, I prefer that the rules shall e com osed of magnetic metal, and, to simplify t e placing of the rules in the grooves of the ty e form, I preferably emloy a magnetize pressure tool or planer f.

his tool is a permanent magnet and is provided with an edge formed to fit the printing edge of the rule. When the rule is positioned in the groove of the tool it is held there magnetically, and, while thus held may easily be alined with and pressed into the receivin groove of the type form. The action of t e tool is depicted in Fig. 9. When the barbs of the rule are once engaged with the form, the tool may be removed without danger of displacing the rule. For convenience, I provide the tool f, with three edges f, each having a roove f, formed to fit one of the illustrate rule shapes. The tool need not be large, in fact it is so small that it may be carried in the printers pocket. The flat sides or edges f of the tool which are opposed to the rule receiving grooves are adapted to receive the blows of a mallet in the operation of forcing the rules down into the slots or grooves of the surface I prefer to pression surface of the form, when-the form in the operation known in the art as planing It should be understood that the drawings show the parts greatly exaggerated in size. A correct idea of the proportions may be gained from the followin The surfaces 12 are the quad-height sur aces of the type form. The type 13 with their pedestals 14 rise to a height of substantially forty-three thousandths of an inch above this quad-sur face 12. Seventeen thousandths of an inch is usually consumed in the sink of the ty leaving the vertical shoulders, 14', type with a height of twenty-six thousandths of an inch. The wire-like rules preferably have a total height of forty-one thousandths of an inch. The fins, 6, 6 of the rule are about four thousandths of an inch in width, measured perpendicularly from the sides of the rule and they are about three thousandths thick at the base and they taper to a feather edge. The matrix-formed grooves e, that receive the rules, are slightly wider than the rules, by two or three thousandths of an inch, to rather easily admit the rule fins. the grooves cor responds to the depth of the rule, preferably forty-one thousandths of an inch.

The rooves and rules may be fully fortythree tiiousandths of an inch deep; that is of full type height, measured from the quad the impression surface of the I recommend the height of forty-one thousandths of an inch for the that greater accuracy is in sured by making the grooves or notches by means of routed matrices provided for the purpose. The mold surfaces of blank or quad forming matrices are not always accurate. Nevertheless, my invention comprehends the employment of quad matrices of proper width for the making of the rule grooves; and also comprehends the employment of rules of full type height. It should be understood that the quad height which is the height produced by ordinary blank matrices such as shown at Fig. 10, provide the form with a level to surface indicated by the dotted line 12, ig. 2, and upon which support my rules. surface as explained is produced at a depth of substantially forty three thousandths below and parallel with the printing or imform is composed of slugs produced with standard matrices on the ordinary or usual linotype machine. And I find that the slight variation in this surface which results from inaccuracies in matrices or alinement is just suflicient to compensate for a height of rule of forty-one thousandths instead of the full type height of forty-three thousandths.

have shown in mold edges of of matrices involved in or greater clearness, I

the several forms the making of the illustrated type form.

hese matrices are shown of substantially actual size. Fig. 10 depicts a quad forming or blank matrix characterized by a straight edge 15, the dotted lines showing the relative positions of the walls of the co-acting mold cell. Fig. ll depicts the edge of a In Fig. 4 of the drawing, by means of the dotted line 20, I have attempted to show the shellac, or other adhesive substance, with which I coat all my rules. This coating prevents the deterioration of the surface of the rule, and, particularly, prevents rusting, in the case of rules made of annealed steel or iron. The coating is ver thin and does not interfere with the use 0 the printing edge of the rule. A further function of the coating is to assist the barbs in firmly uniting the rule with the walls of the rule stances may effect the fastening of the rule without the engagement of the barbs. It will now be clear that upon the assembling of the type slugs my novel rules may be quickly pressed into place, and that the same are seIfsecured, without resort to any further operation upon the metal of the type form.

I claim:

1. As a new article of manufacture, a type-form rule for application upon the level top surfaces of type-forms, comprising a straight wire-like piece of metal, in cross section substantially as wide as it is high, and tapering at its top to a'printing edge, its sides provided with thin knife-like, typeformenetrating edges.

2. s a new article of manufacture, a type-form rule for application upon the level to surfaces of type-forms,'comprising a straight wire-like piece of metal, substantially as wide as it is high and ta ering at its top to a printing edge, being 0 a hel ht from printing edge to base approximating .043, its sides provided with thin, knifelike t pe-form-penetrating edges.

3. X tabular type-form, provided with a. y

rule receiving slot having substantially parallel, vertical, rigid and relatively immovable side walls, and a type-form printing rule adapted to be applied to the form by being forced downwardly into said slot, and having type-form thin fins or edges adapted to cut into the metal of the form when the rule is applied thereto and prevent the free removal of the rule. 7

4. A tabular type form, comprising a type slug containing a groove of a depth not exceeding type height, in combination with a metal rule having its printing edge in the impression plane of the form and having bendable fins adapted to yield as the rule is placed in position in the groove and be inserted in the walls of the groove to hold the rule in place.

5. A tabular type-form having a level top surface and rule receiving slots extending from the printing surface to said level top surface, in combination with type form rules adapted to be applied to the form by being ushed downwardly into said slots upon said level top surface, said type-form rules having type-form penetrating edges which by reason of the rules being applied to the form penetrate the form and prevent the free removal thereof.

form provided with a 6. A tabular type roove for receiving a printing rule, the side walls of the groove being substantially parallel, vertical and relatively immovable, in combination with a rule in said groove, the rule being formed wider than the groove and having parts adapted to yield to permit the insertion of the rule in the groove and adapted to enga e the walls of the groove to prevent the withdrawal of the rule from the groove.

7. A tabular type form provided with a groove for receiving a printing rule, the walls of the groove being substantially parallel, vertica and relatively unyielding, in combination with a rule in said groove, the rule having relatively thin bendable edges adapted to be bent as the rule is applied to the form and adapted to be embedded in the body of the form to prevent the easy withdrawal of the rule.

8. A tubular type form provided with a groove for receiving a printing rule, the walls of the groove being substantially vertical, parallel and relatively immovable, and a printing rule in the groove, the rule having parts which are adapted to be bent as the rule is forced into place.

9. The combination with a printing form composed of linotype slugs which have a level top surface substantially .043 below the face of the printing form, of type form rules adapted to be supported on said surface and provided with bendable fins adapted to be bent as the rule is applied to the form and adapted to engage the metal of the form to prevent the easy removal of the rules from the form.

10. A t pe form rule for use upon a type form ma e up of linotype slugs which have a level top surface substantially .043" below the printing face thereof, said rule being of a height substantially the same as from the printing face to said level top surface and having bendable fins for engagement with the metal of the form for retaining the rule on the form.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 20th day of April, 1918.

ASHTON G. STEVENSON. 

